Dominic Rubino is executive vice-president of FocalPoint International, a network of business coaches practicing the methods of Brian Tracy to bring success to executives and business owners all over the world.

Hi folks – welcome to FocalPoint’s Business Coaching Challenge of the Week – Driving Results for a Retail Business. This week’s challenge is being led by Ronan Kilroy, who is a FocalPoint Business Coach in Dublin, Ireland.

Ronan is an excellent, inspiring speaker and an engaged, high energy business coach.

Here’s what Ronan has to say about himself:

“I started my career working for Proctor and Gamble and then progressed to working with the VF Corporation and Wrangler Jeans in the UK market. 

“All of this was direct retail experience. 

“I then set up my own business which was NOT a success, as I forgot the golden rule of business which is to get paid. Young and clueless!!

“After that I worked for Hallmark Cards in both the Irish market and the UK market and then moved to a large Gift and Greeting card company in Ireland. 

“Then VF Corporation asked me back... I worked again on the Wrangler brand in Ireland for 6 years. 

“Actually this is the first time I've ever really thought about the fact that, in effect, ALL of my career was in retail /FMCG up to 7 years ago....”

And here is what Ronan has to say about this week’s coaching challenge:

How can I drive results as a business coach for a Retailer?

“Here's my first tip. 

“Get your retailer by the hand and walk them out on the street opposite their store. 

“Ask them to look objectively at their store from a customers point of view. 

“How does the store look? What does the branding look like. Is the entrance clear and easy to access. Are the windows cluttered. Is the signage clear? Are the windows clean??

“Basic questions but very important. 

“Next, stop and count the footfall for an hour. How many people are walking down the street? 

“Then look around the street. Which stores have the most customers? Which side of the street is busiest? What are people doing? Where are they buying their coffees? 

How many people stop outside your store to look in your windows? How many walk on? 

“The next step I would take is to once again take your retailer by the hand and walk them in to the store. 

“Get them to think like a customer. Suspend their belief systems. 

“Ask them to highlight what they notice as they enter the store. 

“What strikes them? 

“What products do they notice?

“What is the signage like? 

“Is the store presentable. Clean. Well laid out? 

“Is the welcome mat filthy? 

“Are the products well merchandised? 

“What are the staff doing? 

“Are they presentable? 

“Are they engaging with customers? 

“Where is the paypoint? 

“What colours are you using in the store? 

“Now get your client to look at the customer mix. 

“What age/sex etc are the clients? Is this representative of their normal client? Is this the client they want to attract? 

“What products do you think your clients want when they enter the store? 

“Are products merchandised cleverly? In other words are the sunglasses near the suncream? 

“There are literally a million questions to ask and believe me this is the best place to ask them. ON the shopfloor. 

“As Rich Scott would suggest, get them to get a customer counter above the door if they don't have one. 

“The next thing to do is get straight to the metrics. 

“Get a copy of their P&L. Assess the numbers in detail. 

“Look closely at the stock turnover numbers. 

“Do they know the industry average for stock turnover? 

“Do they have a benchmark for stock turnover? A goal? 

“What lies behind the numbers? Using Pareto's Law get an analysis of what is selling in the shop and most importantly margins and revenues generated. 

“Do they know their Top selling items? Do they analyse them monthly? 

“Do they have a target margin by product type? 

“Based on the questions above, do they have the right product mix? 

“Do they know their bottom selling products? Do they sell? Are they losing money on the bottom 20% of products? You may find they are. Losing money through damages/out of date stock, out of date packaging etc. 

“Focus on eliminating slower lines and setting clear cut goals for stock turnover for the business. Analysed monthly. 

“Get the Way to Wealth model out now... 

“Instead of leads use customers. Get the metrics from the P&L. 

“Now get your clients to set clear cut UNEQUIVOCAL goals for each of the steps in the Way to Wealth. 

“This is a great tool for enabling them to work backwards from the W2W numbers and set clear cut weekly/monthly/annual targets and KPI's

“For example if you know the current customer numbers ( let's say 1000 per week) and your clients sets a goal for a 5% increase therefore 1050 customers per week. Great we know have a clear cut goal of improving numbers by 50 customers per week. 

“Now the value of the questions above really come in to play. If every one of these was analysed and solutions found would they add at least 50 new customers weekly? 

“Remember that this is just the start of the process. 

“We haven't got to the average sale value and the average number of times customers visit. 

“Personally I think that there is so much in the above that if they could make serious inroads in these areas they would have a significantly better business. Full stop. 

“The key as coaches is to really dig in to the answers to each and ensure that we hold them accountable to each metric. 

“We haven't even got in to the coaching material yet but this is hopefully a great foundation to build upon.”

Excellent job Ronan. You get to the core of the matter and ask crucial questions. I agree with idea of getting the business owner out there to look at their store – it is so important to view the business from the customer’s point of view.

Okay coaches – it’s your turn: What would you do to drive results for a retail client?